Poetry: glossary terms + poems (oct 8)

Alliteration

The repetition of initial stressed, consonant sounds in a series of words within a phrase or verse line. Alliteration need not reuse all initial consonants; “pizza” and “place” alliterate.

Ambiguity

A word, statement, or situation with two or more possible meanings is said to be ambiguous.

Anaphora

Often used in political speeches and occasionally in prose and poetry, anaphora is the repetition of a word or words at the beginning of successive phrases, clauses, or lines to create a sonic effect.

Anthropomorphism

A form of personification (A figure of speech in which the poet describes an abstraction, a thing, or a nonhuman form as if it were a person) in which human qualities are attributed to anything inhuman, usually a god, animal, object, or concept.

Antithesis

Contrasting or combining two terms, phrases, or clauses with opposite meanings.

Apostrophe

An address to a dead or absent person, or personification as if he or she were present.

Assonance

The repetition of vowel sounds without repeating consonants; sometimes called vowel rhyme.

Chiasmus

Repetition of any group of verse elements (including rhyme and grammatical structure) in reverse order, such as the rhyme scheme ABBA

Conceit

From the Latin term for “concept,” a poetic conceit is an often unconventional, logically complex, or surprising metaphor whose delights are more intellectual than sensual

Consonance

A resemblance in sound between two words, or an initial rhyme.

Figure of speech

An expressive, nonliteral use of language. Figures of speech include tropes (such as hyperbole, irony, metaphor, and simile) and schemes (anything involving the ordering and organizing of words—anaphora, antithesis, and chiasmus, for example).

Hyperbole

A figure of speech composed of a striking exaggeration. (often with strong emotion) (opposite of litotes)

Imagery

Using vivid or figurative language to represent ideas, objects, or actions.

Litotes

A deliberate understatement for effect; the opposite of hyperbole.

Metaphor

A comparison that is made without pointing out a similarity by using words such as “like,” “as,” or “than.”

Metonymy

A figure of speech in which a related term is substituted for the word itself. Often the substitution is based on a material, causal, or conceptual relation between things. (For example, the British monarchy is often referred to as the Crown.)

Motif

A central or recurring image or action in a literary work that is shared by other works. Unlike themes, which are messages, statements, or ideas, motifs are details whose repetition adds to the work’s larger meaning; multiple and varying motifs can take place within one work and across longer collections.

Onomatopoeia

Onomatopoeia is a figure of speech in which a word imitates the sound associated with an action or an object, effectively mimicking the sound it describes.

Oxymoron

A figure of speech that brings together contradictory words for effect, such as “deafening silence.”

Paradox

As a figure of speech, it is a seemingly self-contradictory phrase or concept that illuminates a truth. (related to oxymoron)

Parody

A comic imitation of another author’s work or characteristic style.

Pastiche

A patchwork of lines or passages from another writer (or writers), intended as a kind of imitation. The term also refers to an original composition that deliberately mimics the style of another author, usually in a spirit of respect rather than mockery or satire.

Pathetic fallacy

The assignment of human feelings to inanimate objects, as coined by the Victorian literary critic John Ruskin. For him, a poet’s tendency to project his or her emotions outward onto the workings of the natural world was a kind of false vision. Today the term is used more neutrally, and the phenomenon is usually accepted as an integral part of the poet’s craft. It is related to personification and anthropomorphism, but emphasizes the relationship between the poet’s emotional state and what he or she sees in the object or objects.

Personification

A figure of speech in which the poet describes an abstraction, a thing, or a nonhuman form as if it were a person.

Simile

A comparison made with "as," "like," or "than."

Symbol

Something in the world of the senses, including an action, that reveals or is a sign for something else, often abstract or otherworldly. (A rose, for example, has long been considered a symbol of love and affection.)

Synecdoche

A figure of speech in which a part of something stands for the whole.  (related to metonymy.)

Synesthesia

In description, a blending or intermingling of different sense modalities.(describing one sense in terms of another to create vivid and imaginative imagery for the reader e.g. a silent sun)

Blackberrying

Sylvia Plath

Going Home: New Orleans

Sheryl St. Germain

A Supermarket in California

Allen Ginsberg

This Is Just to Say

William Carlos Williams

Ortolans

Rachel Galvin